Rex Patrick (SA, Centre Alliance) Share this | Hansard source

Minister, expanding on Senator McKim's line of questioning, and maybe to assist in clarifying things, I note you were talking about hypotheticals; all laws in this chamber affect matters into the future. I have checked the standing orders. There is nothing in them to fetter—like there would be at estimates—the answering of a question that's hypothetical; in some sense, they all have to be. The question is about the future operation of the law. To go to the matter that was raised, I think you sort of walked back from the idea that the ADF would be called out to a protest, even in circumstances where there was a risk of damage to property or there was a risk of damage even to life. Based on our past experience of seeing protests play out, some of them violent, in most instances—in fact, in all instances I can think of—the police were able to handle those sorts of affairs. Is that fair? You've talked about the fact that there is a threshold requirement. I can't imagine a civil event that would meet that threshold requirement that you've just talked about.